


Christmas Traditions May Wary

by TomatoFujoshi



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: A Merry Knapp-Shappey Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fandot Secret Santa 2015, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5509733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomatoFujoshi/pseuds/TomatoFujoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My fill for the Fandot Secret Santa of 2015. </p>
<p>Timeladyleo asked for Christmas-ness with preferably Carolyn/Herc as a ship.<br/>This is what I made of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Traditions May Wary

**Author's Note:**

  * For [timeladyleo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeladyleo/gifts).



> Hi!   
> I hope you enjoy this :D   
> It's not very shippy, sorry for that...  
> MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 
> 
> (Also sorry this is almost completely unedited but I finished and thought let's get it out there tomorrow will be a busy day)

It was the first Christmas Herc spend with Carolyn and Arthur. The year before they hadn’t been going out long enough for it to feel comfortable for Herc to intrude on such a family occasion.   
But this year it had been Carolyn who had invited him so he couldn’t refuse, but he was very nervous because she hadn’t made any indications on how they celebrated Christmas. He thought it would most likely be extravagant in an Arthur like way.   
He had had the presents ready and wrapped for at least a week he hadn’t been scheduled for any flights for a few days before the big day either so the nervousness had time to grow inside his head.  
He was a grown man and had been married 4 times before, why was he so nervous about spending Christmas with his new girlfriend?   
He wouldn’t say it where Carolyn could hear or would hear of it, but in the privacy in his head he called Carolyn his girlfriend. It felt right. 

Herc arrived at Carolyn’s place 15 minutes early, having been too nervous to stay in his flat anymore. He took a deep breath before leaving the car, getting the presents from the boot and walking up to the house.   
Even before he could ring the doorbell the door was thrown open Arthur almost fell over the doorstep in the haste to greet Herc. The first thing Herc noticed was Arthur’s flashing Santa hat, and the matching light up Christmas jumper. “Hi Herc! Brilliant! You are here! Come in. Mum is cooking so she banned me from the kitchen”  
“Hello Arthur, that’s a very nice jumper”  
“Yes. Look it can do even more!” Arthur fumbled around on the jumper until it started blaring jingle bells “Isn’t it brilliant?”  
“Yes very” Herc was astonished at how obnoxious but also very Arthur this outfit was “Can I go inside now? It’s freezing and these are heavy”  
“Ooooh! Are those presents?” Arthur said finally stepping back into the house Herc following.  
“Yes”  
“I can put them under the Christmas tree if you want”  
Herc handed the presents over and Arthur dashed off Herc called after him “Don’t try to peek”  
“I’m an adult” Arthur said, Herc shook his head and wandered into the house towards the kitchen where Carolyn would be. 

“Hello darling”  
“Hello Herc. You are early” Carolyn ignoring the endearment meant she was in a very good mood.   
“Yeah, for once I am”  
“Make yourself useful and help me chopping the vegetables”  
Herc walked over to Carolyn, and before picking up the knife Carolyn had apparently ‘just lying around’ he touched Carolyn’s cheek getting her to look up at him. He leaned down to kiss her, she kissed back if even for just a short time. Carolyn pulled back “Now start chopping or dinner won’t be ready until tomorrow”  
“I thought you hadn’t planed on me helping you”   
Carolyn retorted “Less sarcasm, more chopping” despite Herc having started working already.  
They worked in mostly silence to get everything ready. Herc could hear Arthur singing in various parts of the house the whole time, it seemed he never stayed long in one room.  
“What is Arthur doing?”  
“Hopefully not breaking anything. But I told him to finish decorations for a bit”  
“Everything already looked decorated when I came in”  
“Yes but Arthur needs something to do and he loves the tinsel. I don’t want to repeat the mince pie accident from a few years ago. Arthur had misunderstood it as mice pie or something so he added sugar mice to the recipe and they caught fire in the oven.”   
“That explains why Douglas was so keen on telling me to definitely try Arthur’s cooking”  
“He isn’t too bad when he sticks to a recipe that isn’t his own”

They finished meal preparing the meal working perfectly together. Herc felt himself relax more now that he started to see that a Knapp-Shappey Christmas was not some rigid traditional affair his mind made up as the worst case. 

“Ok everything is cooking. It’ll get ready on it’s own now” Carolyn said washing her hands, when Herc followed suit she called “ARTHUR! Get down here”  
Arthur skidded towards the kitchen door almost barrelling down Carolyn, stopping just in time “I’m here”  
“One of these days you are going to break your neck. How is the decorating going?” Now that Arthur was standing still Herc could see he was covered head to toe in little glittery bits that had fallen of the tinsel and whatever else he had used to decorate.   
“I’ve almost finished. The only room I haven’t decorated is your bedroom. I was just going to start on that…”  
“No Arthur. No decorations in my room. If you are finished set the table and don’t break the good china”  
“Right-o”  
“I could set the table too”  
“No, you and I are going to sit down for a bit. We’ll need our energy and Arthur needs less of it”

Carolyn led him to the living room. Herc had seen it before but then it hadn’t been this covered in Christmas decorations. There were fairy lights and tinsel everywhere, the tree was decorated with glass ornaments, but also hand made paper things, mostly planes, on the mantle hung 3 stockings still empty but they too weren’t exempt from the tinsel hell.   
“This certainly is… Something”  
“Arthur made it extra special for you, but I’m used to most of it”  
“I never thought I’d see this much tinsel in one place outside of a Christmas store”  
“You continue to underestimate Arthur”

They spend the rest of the time until their meal was finished in silence, just accompanied by the clatter of Arthur setting the table in the other room. Herc tried to reach out for Carolyn’s hand, but she kept moving her hand away, but she did allow him to slowly move to sit closer to her.   
Soon after Arthur was back “I’ve finished. Nothing is broken”  
“Good”  
In that moment the alarm for their meal rang. Carolyn got up and went into the kitchen, making Herc stay were he was. Arthur sat down on the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table resting his arms and chin on top of it. “Do you like Christmas with us?”  
“I haven’t seen much yet but what I’ve seen looks great”  
“Good. I really worked hard on these decorations”  
“They are lovely”  
Before Herc had to enthuse about the abundance of tinsel some more Carolyn called them for dinner. 

Herc had seen Carolyn’s dining room before, the big table always littered with files over files documenting the debts and businesses of MJN Air. But now there was not a file in sight, a red table cloth on the table, fine china expertly arranged on the table.   
“Where should I sit?”  
“Not at the head that’s mum’s seat but you can have either side of the table”  
Herc went around the table so he would sit with his back to the wall in case Arthur decided to run off for some reason he would have more space to do it.   
“I can help carrying things too”  
“Hercules Shipwright you will sit there and let Arthur help instead”  
“Yes I love helping”  
“And it’s not possible for all three of us to carry the things?”  
“No. That will only lead to accidents”

Carolyn and Arthur brought in a small roast and a vegetable ‘side dish’ that was way to big to be only intended as a side dish.   
After everything was served they started eating without any big rituals.   
“Oh this is really tasty”  
“Are you surprised I can cook?”  
“No. It just tastes especially lovely today”  
“That wasn’t even a good safe”  
“I wasn’t trying to safe myself. Your cooking is always lovely, just like you. But today it exceeded even those expectations”  
“Shut up, Hercules”  
“It really is tasty, mum, it must be the love because you cooked together with Herc”  
“There’s no such thing, idiot child” Herc couldn’t say if it was an optical illusion or if the wine served with dinner and Arthur’s talking were making Carolyn blush. 

After dinner was finished and the table had been cleaned up they went to the living room again, Arthur lit a fire in the fire place and for a short time Herc was afraid he would set fire to the tinsel and thus the house before he actually lit the tinder in the fireplace, but he managed and soon the fire was crackling and warming up the room.

They spend the rest of Christmas eve sitting around in the living room. At some point Arthur put on the DVD of ‘Muppet’s Christmas Carol’. Herc couldn’t say he had seen that version of the story before, but he also had to say he liked it. Half way into the movie Arthur fell asleep on the rug in front of the fire place.

When the fire in the fireplace burned down and the movie had long since been over Carolyn moved to stand up from the sofa.   
“Time to retire I think”  
“What time is it?”  
“Gone 11 if the blaring bright time next to the TV”  
“It’s not that late”  
“But like I said before going to bed earlier is better” She bowed down so she could shake Arthur “Arthur wake up and go to bed”  
“Is it Christmas?”  
“No. And it won’t be Christmas any time soon if you don’t go to bed”  
“Okay…” Arthur sleepily got up from the ground and walked up the stairs his eyes half closed. It looked dangerous but as Carolyn seemed fine with it it couldn’t be too unusual.   
Carolyn straightened the pillows on the sofa and put the one Arthur had been lying on back on the arm-chair. “Let’s go too”  
“Really?”  
“Yes. Arthur will be up before the sun’s up and if you can’t ignore him on a normal day it’s worse on Christmas”  
“He is almost 30?”  
“One could think you’ve never spend any time around Arthur”  
“Sometimes I wish I could enjoy life the way he does”  
“I couldn’t deal with two of him so don’t you dare”  
“I won’t”  
“Good, you know the way so go.”

Herc had difficulty falling asleep, still wondering what Christmas at the Knapp-Shappey’s would be like and also thinking about what today had already brought him. 

 

_______________________

 

The next morning came way to early for Herc’s liking. He was awoken by loud thumping on the stairs, Carolyn still seemed to be asleep beside him.  
“Darling?”  
Carolyn mumbled something and turned around slowly opening her eyes, looking straight into Herc’s.   
“Good morning” Herc greeted with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, there was no light shining between the cracks of the blinds.   
“Morning… Is Arthur awake?”  
“Either that or a loud burglar is in your house”

The question was answered for sure when the door to Carolyn’s bedroom was swung open with such force it banged against the wall “Gooooooood Morniiiing and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!” Arthur came in carrying a tray with two steaming mugs on it “I made coffee”  
“Merry Christmas! How kind of you to make coffee”  
“You are brilliant! Mum never likes my coffee on Christmas”  
“Arthur. I like your coffee. I don’t like the time and manner of the coffee delivery”  
“But it’s Christmas!”  
“And it will still be Christmas when the clock shows double digits”  
“I already waited a long time and even made breakfast. So can you please come downstairs?”  
“Yes. Give us the coffee and leave us alone for a minute we will follow you”  
“Brilliant”

Arthur left, even closing the door behind him, Herc looked for a dent in the wall but couldn’t see one, instead he saw a fluffy dressing gown on a hook behind the door he had never before realised was even there.  
“Do you now see why we needed to go to bed early?” Carolyn said sipping her coffee.  
“Yes”  
After finishing her cup of coffee Carolyn got up and got the dressing gown from the hook. It turned out to be two, a smaller one had been hidden beneath the other one. “Here wear that, except if you want to get dressed in the next minute it’ll take Arthur to get bored and come back to get us”  
“I didn’t know you owned a dressing gown in my size” Herc said taking it. He carefully inspected the pattern on it for any sheep. He had grown vary of stuff Carolyn gave him as a present. But thankfully he couldn’t find anything even remotely looking like a sheep. It was just a blue dressing gown with some kind of art pattern.b  
“You don’t know a lot of things about me” Carolyn said, putting on her own dressing gown. Herc got out of bed and put on his before following her down stairs. 

“Oh I just wanted to look if you hadn’t fallen asleep again”  
“Arthur, you have to give us at least a few minutes to get out of bed after you woke us up”  
“Oh has it only been 5 minutes? I thought it was way longer. Do you want more coffee?”  
“Yes. Herc? You too?”  
“Please”

When Arthur had said he had made breakfast Herc had thought he had put some things on the table or made something inedible. But he had made a full breakfast including eggs and bacon, even though he had somehow managed to make the egg Christmas tree shaped. He waited until Carolyn started eating to make sure it was safe after the stories he had heard the day before, but Carolyn started digging into the breakfast food so he started too.

After breakfast it was a whirl of Arthur dragging them into the living room. Carolyn and Herc sat down on the sofa once again and Arthur dove towards the presents under the tree eagerly grabbing the first one to read the label to see who it was for.   
“Mum it’s for you” Arthur handed over the package Herc recognised as his own. And while he already looked at the next one he dutifully waited with the unwrapping until Carolyn had finished unwrapping hers.  
Herc had given her tickets to Hamilton.   
“What the fresh hell is this?”  
“Tickets to a new play. I haven’t heard of it but the clerk said it has the best reviews”  
“It’s in New York. Wasn’t there anything closer to England?”  
“You are going to New York next month aren’t you? I took the week off so I can go with you”  
“And what if the plane was full?”  
“It isn’t you have been complaining about the fact that you need to be on a no passenger flight for that time”  
Carolyn didn’t argue back and instead focused on Arthur again. “Go ahead”

Arthur then unwrapped the present Herc had gotten from him. A drum kit. He could almost feel Carolyn’s deadly gaze from the side, but it was only fair after he had gotten that sheep for his birthday. He almost shuddered even thinking about it.  
“Wow Brilliant! Thank you Herc! Now I can try to play along to songs!”  
“You are welcome”

Oblivious to the starting contest Carolyn was still trying to engage Herc in Arthur dove for the next present.   
They unwrapped their presents in turn. Arthur got the most. Carolyn had gotten him mostly art stuff and some brightly coloured yarns. The mystery of why Carolyn had given Arthur yarn was revealed when Carolyn unwrapped the present Arthur had gotten her. It was a Christmas jumper but instead of the usual Christmas motifs it had a plane with with Christmas decorations on it.   
Herc got a DVD of the takes he did for MJN’s video and a free pass to Fitton’s opera house from Carolyn. From Arthur he got a bag of Mini-Toblerones and a hand made Christmas jumper too. His had a sheep on it, it seemed to be tangled up in fairy lights, Herc didn’t look at it too closely.   
“Do you like the sweater?”  
Now Carolyn seemed to be holding back laughter beside him. She so deserved the drum kit he had given Arthur.   
“Yes. It’s nice and warm”  
“Mum said you really like sheep so I knitted one onto it for you. I made myself one with a polar bear!”  
“Very nice”

They spend the rest of the day relatively calm compared to how they started the day. It was still a pretty traditional celebration but Arthur’s touch made it all even brighter.  
The day was spend mostly eating, but in between they watched some Christmas movies, the queens speech, which Carolyn listened to with utmost attention and when Carolyn put on some Christmas music Arthur tried out his drum kit and surprisingly managed to copy the beat of the songs almost perfectly.


End file.
